A home network connects various digital home appliances so that the user can always enjoy convenient, safe and economic life services inside or outside the house. Refrigerators or washing machines called white home appliances have been gradually digitalized due to the development of digital signal processing techniques, home appliance operating system techniques and high speed multimedia communication techniques have been integrated on the digital home appliances, and new information home appliances have been developed, to improve the home network.
As shown in Table 1, the home network is classified into a data network, an entertainment network and a living network by types of services.
TABLE 1ClassificationFunctionService typeData networkNetwork between PC andData exchange, internetperipheral devicesservice, etc.EntertainmentNetwork between A/V devicesMusic, animationnetworkservice, etc.Living networkNetwork for controlling homeHome appliances control,applianceshome automation,remote meter reading,message service, etc.
Here, the data network is built to exchange data between a PC and peripheral devices or provide an internet service, and the entertainment network is built between home appliances using audio or video information. In addition, the living network is built to simply control home appliances, such as home automation or remote meter reading.
A conventional home network system includes a master device which is an electric device for controlling an operation of the other electric devices or monitoring a status thereof, and a slave device which is an electric device having a function of responding to the request of the master device and a function of notifying a status change according to characteristics of the electric devices or other factors. Exemplary electric devices include home appliances for the living network service such as a washing machine and a refrigerator, home appliances for the data network service and the entertainment network service, and products such as a gas valve control device, an automatic door device and an electric lamp.
However, the conventional arts do not suggest a general communication standard for providing functions of controlling and monitoring electric devices in a home network system.